User blog:Drayco90/Game Review- Mass Effect 3: Omega
''Omega is a technically solid, but uninspired and boring return to the universe of Mass Effect that fails to deliver anything worth putting your disk back in. '' As would be expected of a DLC add-on pack, Omega does little to change up the basic formula of Mass Effect 3’s base gameplay, which is a bit of a disappointment after the less expensive Leviathan DLC earlier this year made numerous strides to introduce new mechanics and shake up the gameplay with investigation-based missions and mech gameplay. While the concept of Retaking Omega likely drums up numerous images in the heads of Mass Effect gamers that would make compelling and nostalgic actions set pieces through environments that we remember and care about, the final product is unable to deliver anything beyond the most basic of corridor shooting through uninspired environments, with only a few unremarkable references to anything that we saw in Mass Effect 2. While one could criticize the shooter heavy nature of the gameplay, the much bigger problem is that it simply isn’t engaging. Even in the original game, the combat scenarios were built around some interesting set piece or presented in a way that inspired taking the situation from numerous angles or trying different strategies- Omega is almost solely narrow hallways facing down the same basic Cerberus enemies that we’ve seen a thousand times before. Bioware does introduce a new enemy type to the normal combat in an attempt to liven things up a bit- a robot that can generate omniblades on its arms that deals huge damage in close range and leave a lasting burning effect on the ground beneath them when they die. While the enemy does help mix things up a little, for the most part they aren’t thrown into any encounters that force the player to change up their tactics from normal enemies, and thus fail to really make an impact. The single moment that the gameplay changes out of simple corridor shooting introduces the second new enemy class, an introduction that is far more interesting than their use throughout the remainder of the scenario. The Adjutant is an enemy most players should be familiar with from the Mass Effect: Invasion comic series, the first issue of which was reprinted with limited edition copies of the game. Adjutants actually do change up the gameplay in their first appearance- their immense power and unique abilities present players with a challenge far apart from the Cerebrus minions fought throughout the rest of the DLC, and their lack of affiliation towards Cerberus or the Reapers gives fighting them an alien air on the battlefield. They debut in a moment of survival horror-esque tension and suspense, in an opened up pitch black room illuminated by flashlights. The only problem with the Adjutant sequences is that they’re almost nonexistent after a great deal of building them up, both in and out of the downloadable sequence, and the few times they are used after their exciting first encounter, they serve mostly the same “power unit” role as enemies like the Reaper Brute or Cerberus ATLAS Mech but with significantly less power. Omega tries to present itself as a larger size expansion than past DLC to make up for its bloated price tag, by adding a “hub” level to Omega and a number of sidequests. The hub is incredibly small, features zero interesting things to do or people to talk to outside your two squad members, and the sidequests themselves fall flat, especially on the concept of them being a selling point. There are exactly three of them, and while one is a legitimately amusing callback to a minor set detail that I won’t spoil here, the other two are meaningless “touch the interactive section of the environment” fetch quests that you’d almost have to be trying to miss, and even the entertaining one is still technically a “touch this object and get XP” quest. There’s no depth, no added content or worthwhile reward, and it doesn’t even extend your time in the game beyond a minute or two. While it’s a very disappointing experience, it’s still the same basic mechanics as the base game, and is thus a technically solid shooter. The cover mechanic, the feel of the combat and everything you either loved or hated about the original game’s mechanics are still exactly as you remember them, it’s just a shame that they aren’t used in a more inspired way. 3 out of 5 The make or break for any role-playing game, and for a Mass Effect product in particular, Omega has a lot of potential and has a very strong opening that is ultimately squandered away on a dragging and meaningless story tangent. Playable at any point in the story after you really get into the open “meat” of the Mass Effect 3 campaign, players meet with Aria on the Citadel and are sped off on their quest to take Omega back from the Cerberus occupation that has left the planet’s Queen exiled to the Citadel and her people subjugated under the xenophobic cartoon villains of Cerberus. The high quality cutscene work and exiting introduction actually felt awesome, and I wouldn’t mind if all Mass Effect 3 DLC was done in a more inspired fashion, simply highlighting theatres of the war that we didn’t get to battle in the main game, but just like the gameplay is hindered by its own uninspired straight-forwardness, so too is the plot destroyed by its own irrelevance. While we are informed that Cerberus has transformed Omega into a cruel and oppressive military-like state, where non-humans are gunned down just for looking like problems, we are never treated to any moments that highlight what the war is actually like or has been like for the people of Omega that we’re supposed to be sympathizing with. Poignant moments that could actually make us feel for the struggle of Omega, actually drive us to want to fight and kill the Cerberus occupiers are absent, and to the detriment of the experience. Shepard feels more like he or she is taking back Omega because of Aria’s lust for power, not because the Paragon nature of the character wants to save it from Cerberus cruel occupation, or the Renegade nature of using it as a prominent military force in against the Reapers throughout the Terminus Systems. In a lot of ways, it feels like the writing team heard the criticism that the ending invalidated the meaning of any DLC because they know how it would turn out in the end, and simply ran with it and decided to not give players even an attempt to want to take Omega back. The expansion introduces a new character in the form of party member Nyreen Kandros, a skilled Turian ex-military biotic. A great deal of focus is given to the fact that Nyreen is the first female Turian we’ve seen in the series thus far, but despite that she is given a fair amount of character development and personality, comparable to Kasumi from the Mass Effect 2 add-ons, and significantly more than Zaeed. Kandros was interesting enough that she would have made an excellent additional party member for the rest of the game, something that would be much more worthy of the increased price tag, but for all the interesting things the writers do with her, all of that potential is thrown away in a rush. The other notable new addition to the cast is Oleg Petrovsky, the Cerberus commander and villain of the piece, and another returning element from the Invasion comic. Petrovsky is actually an incredibly interesting villain- he has a confident but honorable (to a point) demeanor that actually gives him the presence to feel like a threat. The most interesting aspect about Oleg is the way he perceives the battle as a whole- his strategic mind and methodical nature make his conflict with Shepard feel like an epic game of Chess between worthy adversaries, and he dominates every scene he’s in, as few and far between as those are. For the most part, the straight forward plot of the add-on is used to string linear combat mission to linear combat mission, with a few disastrous moments where the game remembers it’s supposed to be a Role-Playing Game and provides players with some incredibly shallow and meaningless choices that have no effect on anything. At one point, players are forced to choose between doing something that will result in numerous civilian deaths to benefit the team, or simply take a shortcut that achieves the team’s goals without harming civilians with absolutely no draw backs whatsoever. Not only does this (and other examples) simplify the Paragon-Renegade system to a basic split between Hero and Super Villain, it also has absolutely zero consequences- not even so much as showing the dying civilians or reducing the number of people who rise up during the inevitable “the people rise up” scene shown in all the trailers if you chose the Renegade option. Even the party dynamic is reduced to this basic divide. Players are not permitted to take any of their party members to Omega, instead fighting alongside Aria and Nyreen. The two make up a simple good and evil dynamic in which Nyreen is constantly reminding Shepard of the plight of the common people that we never get to see in-game while Aria continually reminds Shepard that she is a horrible person and that Shepard should do horrible things because not doing horrible things might be a slight inconvenience. It plays out a lot like the Good Angel, Bad Angel cliché seen in so many works of fiction, and it simply doesn’t work, even though both characters are extremely interesting and full of great perspectives outside of the context of being a party member. While there may be zero context for decisions or consequences for your actions, and there may be nothing engaging about the Party dynamic, these problems could still have been alleviated, at least slightly, if it had taken the effort to set up some fun and well written call-backs to the colorful and memorable characters that made Omega such a great location in Mass Effect 2. Unfortunately, the ball is dropped here the hardest. Characters like Captain Gavorn, Patriarch, Mordin’s assistant Daniel and numerous others could have been included in the add-on in really fantastic ways. Imagine finding Daniel working as a member of the resistance, helping administer aid to the outnumbered rebels and asking Shepard how Mordin is doing, harking back to a fan favorite character and one of the game’s most emotional sequences. All of these opportunities are ignored, with the number of characters in the DLC at all being countable on hands, and the number who were in Mass Effect 2 numbering in significantly smaller numbers, and never in memorable roles. Mass Effect is undeniably a story driven franchise. It didn’t earn a legion of passionate and vocal fans because of its shooting and action moments, it earned it in ground breaking story telling, excellent character work and meaningful choices- none of which are present in Mass Effect 3: Omega. Instead, the plot feels like a series of missions from a poorly made Gears of War clone welded together with uninspired cutscenes and brief moments of non-action that lead nowhere. It’s been advertised that the team that made Omega is going to be helming the creation of Mass Effect 4, and if there was any good will for the writing left after the ending of 3, I would be very worried for the future of the franchise based on the quality on show here. 2 out of 5 As mention earlier, what ultimately kills the plot of Omega is its own irrelevance. The choices have no consequence, major or minor. Interesting and promising characters are thrown away in poorly written moments just to move the plot along. Nothing about the basic corridor shooting feels like Omega is being taken back, nor is there any context given to the conflict as a whole. Nothing about playing the game feels any good- the shooting and action set pieces are so cookie-cutter and repetitive that trudging through it feels almost like a chore. The bloated price point is only further hurt by the crushingly poor quality of the extra content like the “hub” and “side quests”. Omega is not a good addition to the Mass Effect 3 experience- it’s something that should be a major set piece, and instead feels like a phoned in obligation. The only conceivable way I could recommend this to someone is if they desperately need another round of Mass Effect’s combat missions, and even then if the multiplayer isn’t doing it for you, I can’t imagine that this would either, especially for $15.00. If you absolutely must have closure on Omega, do yourself a favor and wait for a hefty sale before biting- it may be slightly longer, but it’s nowhere near the quality of add-ons like Lair of the Shadow Broker or Leviathan at notably smaller price points. There’s really no better way to summarize just how little the DLC matters than its own ending: After going through all the effort to take back Omega from Cerberus and win back her home, Aria greets you from the Citadel bar just like she always does, as if nothing has changed. 2 out of 5 Category:Blog posts